Target's offer for a $200 gift card in exchange for a working iPad sounded like a great deal, and it was. But not for everyone.
Some found the offer was more of a hassle than they expected and vented about it on social media.
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Among the complaints: a lack of new iPad inventory, no sales staff available to handle the transactions and hour-plus wait times. Not everyone had a bad experience, but Target's Facebook Page received a slew of negative comments about the deal.
"Just traded in my 1st generation iPad for a $200 credit!," one consumer wrote. "There were only two people ahead of me but it seemed to take very long to activate and/or exchange phones. The woman ahead of me came back after being in the store for three hours the night before. But, I had to wait for an hour and a half to be waited on. There were only two people ahead of me but it seemed to take very long to activate and/or exchange phones."
"I called 2 local Seattle stores — one said they could only use the 200 credit toward a new iPad," wrote another. "The other store promised the gift card but when I got there showed me a circular that said the $200 credit had to go to a new iPad. Really frustrating." (A Target rep responded on Facebook that the company was looking into that claim.)
Yet another wrote:
Major fail Target. Went to local store 15 min after store opened. Goal — new iPhone 5S, new iPad Air. Major promos in Sunday ad on both so would expect them to be ready. No iPads in stock, no staff to handle mobile. Oh ... no customers either, so there was not a crush to deal with and no way they "sold out" in 15 minutes. I asked. Major customer service fail when there are many options besides Target.
The writer later added, "Luckily, after trekking to 3 stores this morning was able to get all resolved. Never mind gas, time and frustration factors — but don't worry Target. Next time will check in advance and go with competition if not up to the game."
A few also took to Twitter to complain.
@Target trying to trade iPad for 200 towards iPad but all out of iPad and no option for gc. #scam #epicfail
— Joseph Buchta (@dementedJoey) November 6, 2013
The @Target iPad trade-in is a scam. 2 stores, 3 lies, & I still have my iPad. I lost time, so @Target's losing 1yr of my business, ~$2000.
— Joe Latone (@latone) November 6, 2013
Aside from what appear to be legitimate complaints about in-store service, many comments resulted from confusion about the deal. The $200 figure referred only to in-store trade-ins. Customers who went online found their quotes were often a lot less.
Another common complaint stemmed from participating stores. To access the deal, you must visit a Target with a Mobility Store. The retailer's website offers a list of all such stores.
Despite such obstacles, many customers were happy to report that their purchase went as planned and they received their $200.
"I just traded my iPad first generation, I got $200 and I bought the iPad Air," one customer wrote on Target's Facebook page. "Thank you so much Target, this was a wonderful deal."
Reps from Target could not be reached for comment. The deal runs until Nov. 9.
Image: Getty/Justin Sullivan